


High Enough for You to Pull Me Under

by indevan



Series: Rock Band AU [4]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, F/F, First Kiss, Friendship, Getting Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 09:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11825865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indevan/pseuds/indevan
Summary: Being on your first tour that’s taking up the better part of the year is exhausting enough.  Being on that tour and realizing halfway through it that you’re in love with your best friend increases it tenfold.





	High Enough for You to Pull Me Under

Being on your first tour that’s taking up the better part of the year is exhausting enough.  Being on that tour and realizing halfway through it that you’re in love with your best friend increases it tenfold.

Caulifla drags herself from bed and into the bathroom.  Last night’s makeup is ringed under her eyes, giving her the appearance of a frightened, slightly rabid raccoon.  She digs a chunk of mascara out of her eye and yawns massively.  More than just the eyeliner is the rest of her reflection.  The girl in the mirror has wild, unruly hair and looks pasty in the shit lighting of the motel bathroom.  Caulifla sticks her tongue out at herself.  Between playing shows, partying with the other bands and pining over Kale, she hasn’t gotten much sleep.

The hotel door opens and closes and she sticks her head out to see Cabba stumbling into the room.  He looks even worse for wear than she does.

“Where have you been?” she asks.

He looks at her, stricken, and she wonders what she said.  Normally, she prides herself on being able to read Cabba and gauge how he’ll react.  He’s pretty predictable and she’s known him for her entire life.

“Being a freaking moron,” he replies.

“That’s ‘what,’ not ‘where.’”

Cabba sighs and sinks down onto the bed.  Caulifla nears him and while she knows she can do with a shower, he smells like he vomited all over himself.

“So, after the show, I went with Vegeta back to their motel room, right?”

Staying in the same motels has increased as the tour drags on, which is both a good and bad thing as far as Caulifla’s concerned.

“What happened?”

Cabba rubs his temples and lets out a shaky sigh.

“Well, we took shots and I was trying to be cool and match him and I got  _ way _ too drunk.”

She’s seen him when he gets  _ truly _ drunk and it’s not pretty.

“And?”

“So, I babbled on like an idiot about how much I look up to him and then I  _ kissed _ him.” He cringes and adds, “and when he pushed me away, I got the brilliant idea to try to suck him off.”

Caulifla chokes on her own spit.

“You what?”

Cabba sighs again.

“I literally took his dick out and he told me I was too young for him and then I threw up all over the floor.”

He presses the tips of his fingers against his eyes and groans.

“And I wasn’t even too drunk to not remember it!  Everything keeps playing in my head and I woke up this morning and he gave me an aspirin and was, like, being nice about it.”

Caulifla wrinkles her nose.

“I can’t picture  _ Vegeta _ being nice about anything.”

“Nah, he was cool about it, which makes me feel like a  _ bigger _ loser and just--ugh!” He drops his head to cradle it in his hands. “My life is trash.”

She pats him on the back consolingly.

“There, there.”

Cabba lifts his head to glare at her. “Don’t patronize me.”

The door opens again, this time quietly, and Kale walks in, fully dressed and carrying a big bag from McDonalds.

“I got breakfast,” she says.

She’s wearing the same plaid flannel that’s become part of her wardrobe since Broly gave it to her, but Caulifla doesn’t feel jealous anymore.  Broly’s gay and, besides, it’s nice that Kale has a friend that isn’t them.  Alright, maybe she’s still a little jealous that she spends  _ so much  _ time with him, but since coming to terms with her feelings for Kale (as much as she can, anyway), she’s been better at dealing with it.  Mostly.

They sit on the bed and eat egg mcmuffins as Cabba relays his embarrassing night to Kale, who makes sympathetic faces at the right times.

“So now I’m just going to never show my face until the tour’s over.”

“Don’t do that,” Kale says. “We need a guitarist.”

She says it in the way she says most jokes--that is, not at all differently from her usual tone of voice.  Caulifla has never figured out if it’s deliberate but Kale’s an expert at deadpan.

“Good one.”

Caulifla holds her hand up for a high five and Kale obliges.  Cabba makes a face.

“I wish explosive diarrhea on you both.  It’s important that you know that.”

\--

They’re getting closer to the city where they started, which means they’re getting closer to the end of the tour.  It still feels surreal.  They’ve always had fun, messing around at Caulifla’s house when her brother’s at work, but now they’re a real bad who’s about to finish their first, real tour.  King Kai wants all four bands to record albums after this--albums!  She isn’t even sure if they have enough material for a full album.

Kakarrot’s family is still with them on this stop.  His girlfriend is off from work and she and the kid are hanging around.  Caulifla doesn’t know how to talk to kids, so she avoids him, which seems to suit the kid fine since, in the short time he’s been here, he’s taken to following Piccolo from Kame Kami around like a little duckling.

Tonight, after the show, she hangs around with Yamcha as he talks about his ex.

“Why does he dress like a sixties folk singer?”

“He used to perform shirtless.  I think he’s doing it to spite me.”

“By looking like a member of The Byrds?”

Yamcha nods, his face solemn, but then he cracks up into laughter.

“Do you still have feelings for him?”

“Unfortunately.” He makes a face. “Tien’s difficult but he’s the kind of difficult I like.”

She isn’t quite sure what he means but she nods along.  The sentiment, at least, makes sense.  She’s glad to talk to him--an after party is boring when you can’t drink.  The after parties have increased as the tour winds down as well.  Parties of all of them together and some press people.  Not a lot of fans.

Around them, things have shifted.  She sees Lazuli from Sadistic Dance talking to Krillin from Kame Kami.  Every now and then they’ll nudge each other and smile.  Her brother, too, is leaning on Raditz quite a bit, both of his arms wrapped around one of Raditz’s bicep.  Tien is looking at Yamcha longingly but glances away when he catches himself.  Kakarrot has his arms around that girl Chi-Chi’s waist, his chin resting on the top of her head.

Couples.  So many damn couples.

She hops down from the stool where she was sitting and makes her way outside.  She smells smoke and turns to see Vegeta leaning against the front of the building, a burning cigarette propped between his fingers.

“Can I?” she asks.

He curls a lip at her and glares at her through the smoke.

“I got one of you drunk last night.  I’m not giving another one of you a cigarette.”

“I already smoke.  The damage is done.  C’mon.”

“Fuck off.”

He says it without heat but not in a manner as if he’s joking with her.  It’s like all of his usual anger and fight is just worn out of him.  Caulifla settles for that and leans with him.

She still doesn’t particularly  _ like _ Vegeta but he was nice to Cabba when he didn’t have to be so maybe she can cut him some slack.

“There’s too many couples inside,” she says.

He grunts around his cigarette.

“Broly told me your girlfriend broke up with you.”

He growls a bit.

“Broly should shut his fucking mouth.”

She sighs.

“I’m just  _ saying _ that we’re both in the same boat.”

“You don’t want to be in my boat.”

Caulifla snorts, unable to help herself.  This self-pity thing is pretty annoying.

“No, seriously.” He drops his ash on the ground and takes another drag before speaking again. “I fucked up and now I don’t know how to unfuck what I did.  So here I am.”

Vegeta blows out smoke and looks upwards.  She follows his gaze and looks up at the stars.  Caulifla looks down and back at his bandaged hand.

“That was pretty punk rock,” she tells him, pointing at it.

He lifts his hand and flexes his fingers.

“Yeah, but it also fucking hurts.”

She can imagine it’s very painful to punch someone  _ through _ the guitar.

“What was she like?”

He looks at her, brow drawn in, like he isn’t sure what this has to do with his hand.

“Who?”

Caulifla sighs. “Your girlfriend.  Ex-girlfriend.  Whatever.”

She tries to picture the kind of girl that would put up with someone like Vegeta who’s sour and rude and stomps around in a perpetual bad mood.  He makes a skeptical sort of smirk-scowl hybrid that looks so perfect that she thinks that he has to have practiced it in front of a mirror.  She shrugs.

“I’m making conversation and I really don’t want to go back inside.”

He sighs and drops his cigarette to the ground to stub it out.

“Alright, fine.  She’s a genius--like, really.  She’s my age and already going for her fucking doctorate in engineering.  She curses like a sailor and says really inappropriate things to try and make me laugh and all she wanted me to do was open up and I couldn’t say shit.” He glowers, maybe at himself. “The thing is, it’s been too long.”

Caulifla nods along.  Vegeta sounds different when he talks about her.  His voice actually sounded light for a moment.

“Is she cute?” she presses.

“Fucking gorgeous.”

“Can I see?  Or did you delete all pictures of her in your fit of baby rage?”

“It wasn’t a fit of baby rage.” He pauses. “It was a bender that lasted a good three months and shut up.  You’re, like, twelve.”

“I’m nineteen, fuckface.”

He sneers at her and she sneers back.  After a beat, though, he pulls out his phone.

“Here.”

He passes it over and Caulifla looks at the girl.  She’s the one taking the picture, her arm raised to take the selfie.  She guesses that they’re in bed since, even though the photo is only from the shoulders up, she can tell that they’re naked.  Her face is pressed against Vegeta’s as she grins broadly and he looks--disgruntled, which isn’t a surprise.

“She’s hot!”

He snatches the phone away.

“Don’t sound surprised.”

“I mean.  You’re cute for a dude, I guess, but, like.  You have a really shitty personality.”

That comment gets her a heated look and she laughs.  She can’t believe that she’s actually enjoying this conversation even if most of that enjoyment is just from getting under his skin.

“I guess I can figure out why you can’t deal with the love fest inside,” she says.

“You too.”

Caulifla blinks, startled.

“Me too?”

“Yeah.  I spent the first third of this tour drunk off my ass, but I could still see it.  You like that quiet girl, right?  Your bassist?”

She pulls a face.

“Is this when you say some ‘I’m older than you’ shit and give me advice about not becoming you.”

He shrugs.

“No.  I was just asking.  I don’t really care what you do.”

Suddenly, she finds herself liking him a lot more.  Caulifla smiles a bit and gets up off of the wall.  She feels like their conversation has run its course and she has to brave the party again.  As she’s going in, Vegeta stops her.

“Here.”

He tosses her something and she catches it in one hand.  Caulifla opens her hand to find a slightly squashed cigarette.

“Do I get a light?”

“No.”

\--

She remembers when she first met Kale.  Caulifla had seen some senior girls throw an egg at a new freshmen.  The girl had run into the bathroom, crying, and Caulifla had followed.  When she went in, the girl was already in a stall, retching, and girls around her were laughing and imitating the sounds she made.  Caulifla told them to fuck off and they left.  She’d told her the bullies were gone and then helped her wash her hair in the sink.

Now it’s four years later and they formed a band and are on a tour and she’s in love with her and everything’s going so fast but at a snail’s pace at once.  It doesn’t feel like they’re on the cusp of anything.  It’s the tour and then a potential emptiness.  She can see it in the others that they’re going places.

Apetail, especially, is getting buzz online and in music magazines.  Mostly, the bloggers and interviewers only want to talk to one of them.  It’s like the three of them are their opening acts.  Caulifla’s annoyed by it but she also knows that the three of them are the bottom of the pack.  Tien, though, is fuming.  It has less to do with his own desire for fame (Tien is, she’s gathered, a very serious musician) and more to do with the fact that he hates Apetail.

Caulifla isn’t so sure that she does anymore.  Turles is a good time and Broly, even if he’s jealous of how he monopolizes Kale’s time, is alright.  She also finds herself spending more time with Vegeta.  She isn’t sure how it happened but more often than not, she ends up next to him.

“I already have one of you up my ass,” he says, “I don’t need another.”

She sneers at him.

“Someone around here has to call you out on your shit.  I just decided it’s my job.”

Truthfully, she doesn’t know why she’s spending time with him.  Maybe it’s because he’s one of the few people alone on tour who she can relate to.  Yamcha’s cool but even she can see it’s only a matter of time until he and Tien are all lovey again.  He pines for blue-girl and she’s pining for Kale.

“So, what are you, now?  My conscience?”

“You got it, Pinocchio.”

“Go away.”

He sucks on his teeth and makes a “tch” sound but he lets her stay when she doesn’t leave.

“You should be nice to me,” she says. “I’m an orphan.”

As he usually does with her abrupt subject changes, Vegeta simply regards it with a curled lip and a quirked brow.

“My parents died in a car accident,” she says and tries to keep her tone light, but the familiar lump forms in her throat nonetheless. “My brother raised me.”

He pauses and it’s a rare time when he’s not smoking--neither of them are.  Inside, the after party goes on where love is annoyingly in the air.

“My mom killed herself when I was eleven,” he says. “I was the one who found her.”

She wants to make a comment like “damn, you win” but he looks like he regrets saying it.  Caulifla realizes that this is probably the some of the “opening up” blue-girl wanted him to do.  She wonders what got him to say it but it probably just slipped out.  This is only the second night she’s hung out with him.  Despite her jokes about being his conscience, she knows it isn’t that deep.  She doesn’t even know if she wants it to be that deep.  Vegeta still has a shitty, abrasive personality.

“Oh.”

\--

It’s later that night, on the bus going to the next city, when Kale approaches her.  It’s so late that it’s almost early and Cabba’s asleep on one of the foldout beds.  Kale looks determined in the gloom and not at all tired.  She’s wearing her Pikachu pajamas and her hair is down.  To Caulifla, she looks gorgeous.

“At the last show, Broly and I are going to perform together,” she says. “I want to sing.”

She isn’t sure how to feel about that.  She’s...angry, jealous and sad.  Ever since Kale sang for her and she realized the depth of her feelings, she’s wanted to hear her again.  Now, she wants to sing, has gotten this confidence from somewhere deep inside her and it’s because of him and not her.

“Oh.” She tries and fails to sound neutral.

Kale sits down as the bus goes over a bump and she begins wringing her hands.

“I don’t want to overshadow you at our shows,” she says. “I talked about it with King Kai.  Some of us are going to do different combinations at the last show to show how well we’ve all gotten along.  For a publicity thing.”

“Overshadow me?”

“You’re so electric.” Her eyes are wide and she keeps wringing her hands. “And I don’t want to take away from that.”

“You wouldn’t,” she says quickly.

“It’s not our style...how I sing.  And…”

Kale looks away, nervous.  She bites her upper lip and lets her hands fall limply into her lap.

“I want you to see me,” she says, her voice so quiet that Caulifla almost can’t hear it over the road sounds.

“What?”

“I want you to see me perform when you’re not...also performing.” She looks down. “Um…”

Kale trails off and worries her lower teeth on her upper lip.  Caulifla swallows.  It feels like something is altered, shifting.  It feels intimate, suddenly, like they’re alone.

“Why?” she hears herself ask.

“Um...I want you to...I want to sing for you again.”

And what does that mean?  Caulifla watches the highway lights flash on Kale’s face.  The orange-yellow light carves shadows out on her cheekbones and the little divot under her lower lip.  She swallows again, her throat suddenly dry.

“Um, I just...want you to know…” Kale looks down but then lifts her chin up again.  Caulifla feels her stare and almost has to look away. “I...you…”

In all of her pining, she’s never thought that Kale would like her back.  Kale treasured their friendship too much or that  _ Caulifla _ was too much.  All of her other girlfriends had said that she was “too much.”  Too loud, too out there, too impulsive.  Not that Kale would think that--probably.  She’s always said that she likes Caulifla just as she is.  But the friendship bit.  The  _ band _ bit.  It changes everything.  She had contented herself to pine from afar and try not to think too much about it.

“What?” she whispers.

It should be natural for her to make the first move.  She’s always the one charging forward with Kale (and Cabba) trailing behind her.  She knows, though, that this isn’t the time for it.

“Can I kiss you?” She ducks her hair and tucks her hair behind her ears. “I mean.  I like you.  I’ve liked you for a long time and...um…”

“You can kiss me.”

The kiss is tentative, almost scared.  Kale’s lips seem tense and they quiver a little before Caulifla takes the lead.  She cups her face and tilts it towards hers.  When they break the kiss, Kale’s shivering even under that oversized flannel she always wears.

“That was better than I imagined...um...have imagined.  A lot.”

Caulifla toys with her own hair, feeling heat creep up her neck. “Yeah.”

They kiss some more but it goes no further.  She knows Kale isn’t ready and, besides, they’re on a crowded bus.  She settles in her arms, though, leaning against Caulifla.  Her head bobs after a moment and then she’s asleep, all of her pressed against her.  Still too wired to sleep--more now--she uses her free hand to take her phone from her pocket.  With one thumb, she awkwardly types out a text message.

**You:** _Kale just kissed me_

She looks at Kale’s sleeping form and drops a kiss on her head because she  _ can _ and this is where they are now.  Suddenly the love fest from earlier isn’t as obnoxious in her memory.  She can be a part of her, holding Kale’s hand.  Maybe even doing press together when a journalist isn’t asking Turles about his dick piercing.  Her phone vibrates with a received message.

**Vegeta:** _how did you get this number?_

**Author's Note:**

> http://vertigoats.tumblr.com


End file.
